Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen struck twice in the first half to defeat St. Pauli 2-1.

Heading into the game on the back of a midweek cup win against Bayern Munich, Leverkusen only took six minutes to lead as Florian Wirtz fired in from a superb Granit Xhaka pass.

Leverkusen, without Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick, then doubled their lead in the 21st minute when defender Jonathan Tah was left unmarked at the far post to head in.

St. Pauli needed 30 minutes to get their first effort at goal and struggled to find openings against a solid Leverkusen defence.

But the visitors did set up a nervous ending to the game when they pulled a goal back in the 84th minute through Morgan Guilavogui.

Leverkusen now have 26 points from 13 matches as they sit in third place - seven points behind leaders Bayern, while St. Pauli are just above the danger zone with 11 points. 

Data Debrief: Hat-trick of wins for Leverkusen 

It is the first time this season that reigning champions Leverkusen have won three games in a row in the Bundesliga.

They have not been totally free-flowing this campaign and it was a similar story on Saturday. Xabi Alonso's side only had an xG of 0.92 at the end of 90 minutes, recording just six shots.

Their opponents, meanwhile, generated an xG of 1.42 with six more shots than the home side and four shots on target - two more than Leverkusen. 

Despite that, Leverkusen maintained their excellent record against St. Pauli, having now not tasted defeat in their last 11 competitive home games against them (W7 D4). Their only defeat at home to St. Pauli came all the way back in their first-ever meeting in 1976.